3D Systems, one of the largest players in 3D printing, announced their first quarter 2017 financial results.
It’s always insightful to examine the financials for 3D printing companies, as it can provide some insight into their well-being, and therefore tell us something about the industry as a whole. Being a publicly traded company, 3D Systems is obligated to publish these results, which we can examine.
The basis of any financial statement is a declaration of revenues and expenses, the difference of which is net profit.
In the case of revenue, it seems the company was more or less flat. In 2017’s first quarter they collected USD$156.4M, compared to 2016’s first quarter result of USD$152.6M. That’s a 2.49% percent difference, which 3D Systems chose to report as “3%” for some reason. Yes, it’s higher, but not by much. And the a company is selling machines that can cost up to USD$1M, that might be only a couple of closed sales difference.
On the expense side, that’s where it’s more interesting.
They managed to reduce expenses in the quarter from USD$94.3M to USD$89.3M, a 5.3% decrease. That’s pretty significant and they say it’s due to “supply chain and manufacturing improvements”. By the way, the first quarter of 2016, to which they were comparing, should have already eliminated the big costs of their consumer division which they had previously shut down. This means these are true, efficiency savings.
They also increased research and development expenses as they continue to work on their new Figure 4 system we recently wrote about.
So are these results good or bad? I think neither. The company is holding its course and likely is counting on revenue increases due to sales of the new Figure 4 in upcoming quarters.
Via 3D Systems
